Postal Workers Union Claims USPS in Portland Is Re-Routing Mail Around Anthrax-Sniffing Machines by DON Mcintosh Two U.S

See Inside MEETINGMEETING NOTICESNOTICES Page 6 Volume 109 Number 5 March 7, 2008 Portland Four large CTW unions say his vision to Change restore America resonates with members WASHINGTON, D.C. (PAI)—Saying his message Win endorsement was to have four of the federation’s to Win of changing hope into reality has inspired its members largest unions — the Service Employees, United Food across the country, and that it’s time for the Democra- and Commercial Workers, the Teamsters, and UNITE tic presidential nomination race to end, the Change to HERE — join forces to mobilize their members in comes Win labor federation on Feb. 21 endorsed Sen. Barack phone-calling, leafleting, door-knocking and other Obama (D-Ill.) for president. campaign activities in Ohio and Texas. “One reason we endorsed now is because we think Burger said CTW unions have 175,000 members out for we can make a difference,” said CTW Chairwoman in Ohio and 60,000 members in Texas. Anna Burger. “It’s time to bring this process to a close. Two other CTW affiliates, the Laborers and Car- There’s a movement building here, and winds of penters, have yet to finish their internal canvassing of change are blowing for Barack Obama.” members. The Carpenters initially endorsed John Ed- Obama The Change to Win endorsement came just weeks wards, who dropped out earlier this year. The seventh before March 4 primaries in Texas, Ohio, and Rhode CTW union, the United Farm Workers, is supporting Island, where a large number of delegates are up for Clinton. grabs. [The outcome of those primaries was not avail- Burger said Obama’s stands on trade, on achieving able at press time on March 4.] the American Dream and on the war in Iraq “really Obama is in a close Democratic primary race with resonated with our members.” Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York. Clinton — who is “NAFTA passed when Bill Clinton (Hillary’s hus- endorsed by several large unions affiliated with AFL- band) was president,” Burger continued referring to CIO — had been the front-runner until mid-February, the controversial U.S.-Canada-Mexico free trade when Obama went on a tear and won 11 states. Prior treaty that labor fought, arguing it would cost thou- to March 4, Obama had won 26 primaries to Clin- sands of jobs. ton’s 11 and held a delegate lead of 1,202 to 1,042. “We have seen and lived through the impact of bad The seven unions in the Change to Win federation trade policies on working families in this country,” broke from the AFL-CIO in 2005 over internal dis- Burger added. agreements about organizing and political activity. Obama has told union audiences repeatedly that if Democrat presidential hopeful Sen. Barrack Obama spoke at a UFCW The national AFL-CIO has remained neutral in the pri- elected, he would tell the Mexican president and the conference in Chicago last year. Last month he won the endorsement of that maries. Canadian prime minister that NAFTA must be rene- union, along with the Service Employees, Teamsters, UNITE HERE, and the The immediate practical effect of the Change to gotiated to stop the job losses. Change to Win federation. Postal Workers Union claims USPS in Portland is re-routing mail around anthrax-sniffing machines By DON McINTOSH two U.S. senators. At least 22 people developed anthrax infec- result. If any of the machines ever detect anthrax, an alarm is Associate Editor tions, and five of those died, including two APWU members at supposed to go off, and postal workers have been trained to fol- Six years after letters containing anthrax killed two Wash- the Brentwood postal facility in Washington, D.C. Anthrax is a low procedures to contain the batch and evacuate the building. ington, D.C., postal workers, several complaints filed by union not-uncommon livestock disease, but particular strains of the That’s where mail processing clerk Roseanna Foster-Mikhail workers in Portland suggest caution may be waning at the U.S. bacteria that cause it have been developed for use as biological comes in. Foster-Mikhail, a 22-year postal employee, is Local Postal Service (USPS). weapons. 128’s safety and health representative, and the person responsi- In December, to deal with a heightened volume of letters, In the wake of the attacks, Congress appropriated $1.4 bil- ble for biohazard training for local postal employees. Her Portland’s central post office processed some letters without us- lion to protect the mail by buying and installing “biohazard de- union’s members maintain the machine, though another union, ing machines that were installed to detect anthrax. tection systems” in USPS facilities. By late last year, the sys- the Laborers-affiliated National Postal Mail Handlers Union, That spurred members of Portland-based American Postal tems, manufactured and maintained by Northrop Grumman, represents workers who use the machine. Workers Union Local 128 to file a union contract grievance, a had been installed at all 283 major USPS processing facilities. The Portland post office has eight of the high-tech cancella- complaint with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Ad- The systems are set up to catch anthrax in stamped letters tion machines, each capable of scanning and stamping the can- ministration (OSHA) and a report to the USPS postal inspec- collected from postal boxes or home mailboxes — not com- cellation mark on 30,000 pieces of mail per hour. But even tors. mercial mass mailings, which are the bulk of USPS workload. that’s not enough around holidays like Christmas, when letter The anthrax scare started a week after the Sept. 11, 2001, Anthrax-sniffing machines are integrated into USPS’ high volumes soar — from 1.5 million pieces a night to as much as 3 terrorist attacks, when letters containing anthrax spores were speed letter-cancelling equipment. A vacuum takes an air sam- million pieces, according to L.C. Hansen, president of the Na- sent to at least five major news organizations; three weeks later, ple from a batch of letters, which is then tested by DNA analy- tional Association of Letter Carriers Branch 82. letters containing a more refined version of anthrax were sent to sis to look for anthrax. It takes 30 to 45 minutes to get the test (Turn to Page 8) SpecialSpecial legislatilegislativvee sessionsession gagavvelsels toto aa closeclose No major union-related bills are heard during the three-week experiment SALEM — The Oregon Legisla- John Lim of R-Gresham, Donna Nel- to file an annual report about their ac- ous Republicans, who believe fusion ganized labor to the governor-ap- ture’s first-ever experiment with an son of McMinnville, and Bill Garrard tivities. would lessen the spoiler effect of con- pointed Global Warming Commis- annual session wrapped up Feb. 22. of Klamath Falls. In the end, it didn’t Supporters of a union-backed third servative third parties like the Liber- sion. But that went nowhere. No major union-related bills were de- matter: Senate leaders Peter Courtney party, the Oregon Working Families tarians. But the bill died in the Ways A bright spot for labor was a bill to bated during the three-week session, (D-Salem) and Richard Devlin (D-Tu- Party (OWFP), were disappointed and Means Committee, because Sen- require energy conservation improve- but labor organizations took sides in alatin) refused to give the bill a vote, again when their proposal to restore ate Democratic leaders, including ments in state buildings, sponsored by favor of a handful of bills. And not saying it wouldn’t pass, even though “fusion” voting failed. Fusion, which Senate President Peter Courtney, re- Brad Witt (D-Clatskanie), former sec- many of those passed, despite Democ- Democrats controlled 18 of 30 seats in exists in several other states, allows fused to give the bill a vote. Dudley retary-treasurer of the Oregon AFL- ratic leadership of the Oregon House, the Senate. candidates to be listed on ballots as credits three Democratic lawmakers CIO and a union rep for United Food Oregon Senate and governor’s office. “The industry was lobbying from the nominee of more than one politi- in particular as having fought for the and Commercial Workers Local 555. The top priority of the Oregon day one to stop any lending reform cal party. OWFP has ballot status as a bill: state senators Brad Avakian and Witt sponsored a similar bill last year, AFL-CIO was a package of mortgage from moving forward,” said Angela minor party in Oregon, but hasn’t yet Ben Westlund, and state representa- which failed to pass. This time, an reforms supported by a consumer Martin, Economic Fairness Coalition run candidates for fear of the “spoiler” tive Chip Shields. OWFP leaders plan amended version passed with a unani- coalition that included AARP, OS- Director for Our Oregon. effect, in which voting for a third- to meet soon to consider options, mous vote in the Oregon House, and PIRG, and the union-backed group The mortgage reform proposals party candidate helps elect the less ap- which include a ballot initiative for all but one vote in the Oregon Senate. Our Oregon. State Senator Ben West- will likely be back for debate next pealing major party candidate. Instead 2008 or 2010, another try at the Legis- The bill could result in thousands of lund (D-Tupelo) led the campaign, in- year, when the next Legislature meets OWFP has focused on restoring fu- lature in 2009, and a third, unnamed jobs for union building trades work- troducing a bill that contained six pro- in January. sion, which Oregon once had.

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